


The Predecessors: The Story of Mademoiselle Papillon and Monsieur Paon

by eternallyyoursforever



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Gabriel and Mrs. Agreste romance, Mild Smut, Miraculous ladybug butterfly miraculous, Miraculous ladybug peacock miraculous, flashforward to the present chapters?, miraculous holders romance, the ship we need more fics about, tons of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:44:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6813985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternallyyoursforever/pseuds/eternallyyoursforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel Agreste was just a simple fashion student striving to make a place for himself in the world, but when he finds himself in the situation of gaining the peacock miraculous and working alongside Mademoiselle Papillon, his life changes forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Akumatized

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter inspired this story <3

She sat perched on the edge of the building scoping out the city. Her long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail flowed with the passing breeze. 

Tonight seemed like it was going to be a quiet night, but Elise could feel a hint of distress emanating somewhere through the vast crowd. 

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine where the source of the feelings were coming from. She then opened her eyes to see a small child running into a nearby alleyway. Behind her, a large man came plundering after, like an animal set on capturing their prey. 

Upon the sight of the scene, she was off running. Leaping across the rooftops at a blinding spend, she hovered nearby where the man was running.

“Let’s see how you like being hunted down” she thought to herself as she jumped off the building and landed down on him. 

The girl stopped and turned around at the loud thud, giving a look of confusion upon taking in her purple clad suit and butterfly mask. 

“Wait!” she called out, but the girl continued to run on. 

Elise glanced down at the vulgar man who laid perfectly still. Her eyes widened in alarm. “He probably passed out from the blow “she reassured herself. 

To make sure of this, she checked for his pulse. She couldn’t feel it through her gloved hands, so instead, raised her hand and slapped him across the face. He stirred, mumbling incoherently but remained unconscious.

She got up quickly, brushing herself off. “I’ll deal with you later “she thought to herself as she ran in the girl’s direction. 

She caught up quickly, her miraculous enhancing her running skills was to thank for that.

“Wait!” she called after the girl, “I mean you no harm!”

The girl stopped and turned around, her frantic breathing echoed through the empty alleyway. 

Mademoiselle Papillon approached her ever so slowly but carefully. She raised her hands up and smiled, “See?” 

The girl seemed to relax at this, Mademoiselle Papillon could already feel her mood calm down drastically. 

“I’m here to help you, let’s go turn in that man alright?” The girl brushed her hair behind her ear and nodded looking down. She wrapped her arm around her and led her forward.

They walked back down the alleyway where the man who attacked her laid. 

Rounding the center, she saw that he remained at the same spot as before. She sighed to herself with relief. At least he hadn’t taken off. She could now turn him over to the authorities as she did with the other criminals that she had fought before. 

Seeing the man, the girl huddled in tighter to her, “It’s OK” she whispered to her. But little did she know that the man had suddenly awoken and went running into the opposite direction. 

With no one nearby to akumatize (since she clearly couldn’t akumatize the girl) the only thing she could do was take the girl and follow him out of the alley so that they could find someone who could help assist in his capture.

“We’re going to have to run, alright?” she asked the girl. She gave her a look of uncertainty but managed to nod her head. 

They both ran.

...

Eventually, they managed to make their way of out of the alley. 

The man ran pushing his way through the crowd, making his way towards the direction of a park. The girl began to falter and ran a bit slower “Just a little bit further” she encouraged her. Her brow furrowed with sweat. She nodded slightly, still running along besides her. 

As they approached the park at a closer rate, the girl nearly collapsed, Elise caught her before she could hit the ground.

Holding onto the gasping girl, she hastily surveyed the park while keeping her eye on the fleeing suspect. 

She zeroed in on a man sitting on a bench sketching what appeared to be fashion designs. 

From the back of his profile, she estimated that he had to be somewhere in his 20’s, he also appeared to look healthy and fit upon first glance, and even had a calming air to him.

He would have to do. 

She quickly summoned a butterfly and imagined a disguise and abilities for him to use. Cupping her hands around it, she transferred all of this into the butterfly with a surge of white and gold shimmering energy.

Opening her hands, she sent the butterfly towards him. 

It met contact with him and the familiar butterfly symbol lit up around her face and mirrored on his. 

“Hello, I am Mademoiselle Papillon, I urge you to rise up and help take down that criminal. You are now… The Fashionator” she smirked thinking back to the designs she saw him sketching. 

“Yes, Mademoiselle Papillon” he said as he dropped his sketchbook and placed his hand over his heart with a slight bow. 

His outfit transformed into that of a stylish blue suit, adorned with a mask and a gaudy top hat. “Now go forth, and stop him” she commanded as she pointed him in the direction that he needed to be. 

He immediately took off. She glanced back at the girl at her side who gave a pondering look as she watched the situation unfold around her. 

No sooner than that, the sounds of sirens echoed behind them, a police man stepped out, “Have you caught the culprit?” the man asked giving the girl a questioning gaze. 

She wrapped her arm tighter around her, “She’s not the perpetrator… but could you please take her to get the help she needs? I have to go catch the real ‘perpetrator’ now” she said glancing towards the direction that he had run in.

“No problem” the police man said as he gently wrapped his arm around the girl and led her away. 

She ran as fast as she could, and eventually caught up to the scene. 

The Fashionator’s leg pinned down on the man’s back as he finished tying up an ornate scarf he had wrapped around him into a giant knot. 

She gave him a look of shock, “You actually stopped him by yourself?” she asked perplexed.

“I did” The Fashionator said as he looked down at the struggling captive with a silent grin.

“My akuma’s have always assisted me with capturing criminals before, but never have they ever actually done the job for me…” she said in awe. “I’m happy to be of service then… Mademoiselle” he said slightly flustered. 

She looked up at him, his gaze locked on her. Now that she had a better look at him, she couldn’t help but feel captivated by his light blue eyes, and the slightest small tugging at his lips. 

The sound of the police men running across the grass and barking out commands broke the connection. 

She broke free from his gaze blushing slightly as she turned her focus back to the situation at hand.

The police officers yelled the usual rights that they had always read at the capture of each criminal. The Fashionator handed the end of the scarf to a nearby police man and took his foot off his back.

The man tried to pull himself up, lashing out and gnashing his teeth like a chained up dog. 

He stepped back nearly tripping. Two small hands held up his back, preventing him from falling.

He turned around to see the masked girl, who let go of him and crossed her arms, giving him a sheepish grin. 

She quickly recovered her confidence as the police men thanked her and walked off, towing the man along with them. “Phew! I’m glad that’s over!” she said as she wiped her hand across her forehead. 

He folded his hands behind his back and looked at her. She exchanged a look of confusion with him before she face palmed. “Silly me! I’m so sorry!” she said as she broke the bond between them, releasing his de-transformation with a flash of purple and white. 

He glanced down at his de-gloved hands, taking in the normality of his clothes.

“I’ll walk you back!” she offered. “Thank you… but you don’t have to if you don’t need to. Surely you must have other duties to attend to…” he said as he looked away from her and pushed his glasses up.

“No I insist!” she said waving him off. “Oh… alright” he said as he looked down nervously. They began their walk back to the bench in the far off distance.

Walking alongside him now, she felt a sense of familiarity. She dared to waver a look at him out of the corner of her eye, and she noticed that he continued to bashfully put his head down as he walked alongside her. 

He caught her glance. She quickly averted her eyes and looked ahead. A sense of dread struck her heart. “Oh god… I akumatized Gabriel Agreste!” 

...

Gabriel Agreste was a highly praised upperclassman at her college. In fact, he was in several of her classes.

Always praised for his projects and designs, yet he let anyone see anymore to him than that. He often sat alone and sketched, his mind always appeared to be elsewhere.

Some said he was distant and cold, others said he thought he was better than everyone else. Yet today, Elise saw him in a newfound light. She saw that he was actually quite kind but ultimately… really shy. 

He approached the bench. The confidence that he wore as The Fashionator had all but faded by now. 

He picked up the bag he left near the bench and collected his things. She walked over to the sketch book tossed on the ground and tried to smooth out the creased pages, “Sorry about that…” she said as she held the book out to him. 

His eyes widened at the pages as he glanced down at her crestfallen expression, letting out a small chuckle, “It’s no problem” he said with a shrug.

Now it was her turn to blush. 

Never had she heard Gabriel laugh even once. Her heart beat uncontrollably in her chest. “I guess I’ll be on my way then” she said as she held out an extended hand to him, “It was nice working with you. Thank you for helping me captures the culprit.” 

He took her hand in his and shook it. His fingers gently wrapped around hers. “I’m happy to have helped.” 

They locked eyes once again. She was secretly glad that most of the blush creeping onto her checks was hidden underneath her mask. He quickly glanced away and let go of her hand, “Goodbye” he said as he walked off. 

She watched him walk away in the direction of the university. So she decided to go in the opposite direction and ran off to a safe and enclosed alleyway hidden away from the public eye. 

She let her de-transformation fall. Nooroo floated up towards her face, “It seems that someone has a crush!” he said as he twirled around and giggled. 

“Do not!” she said as she crossed her arms and blushed. The kwami patted her pink check, “I think it’s quite obvious actually!” 

She gave him a playful scowl and dramatically dropped her arms. She looked down but couldn’t contain her snickering, causing both of them to burst into a fit of giggles. 

...

Gabriel clutched his bag as he walked away from Mademoiselle Papillon. 

His mind was racing about everything that had just happened but mostly… about her. 

He turned around and glanced to see if she was still there. 

She wasn’t. 

She felt very much like a dream to him, seeing that she wasn’t there made it feel ever more so.

He took a deep breath and directed his attention forward. “It’s no big deal Gabe… You’re always over thinking things to be more than what they are…” he said to himself. 

“It’s all a part of her powers. You just happened to have been one of the chosen for to fight alongside of her. But it happened for a reason… didn’t it?” his mind hopelessly reassured him. 

He stopped walking, and leaned up against the front part of the university. He closed his eyes and smoothed his hair back with a sigh. 

A loud crash jolted his attention back to the real world. He looked to his left to see a middle aged man picking up a massive mess of all sorts of objects on the ground. He rushed over to him and assisted him, helping him put the objects back in his suitcase. Gabriel helped the man to his feet and handed him the now enclosed suitcase. “Thank you so much” the man said as he patted him on the shoulder. “Y-You’re welcome” Gabriel said as the man walked off with a grin and a wave. 

The school bell suddenly rang, startling Gabriel, and making him run with great haste into the university. 

...

He walked into class. Gabriel was never late a day in his life.

“How uncanny of you” his professor remarked as he ran in the classroom. “I’m so terribly sorry!” he said as he took his seat. 

“Its fine” she said with a sigh. “At least you’re not like Mademoiselle Elise…” she said as she glanced towards the giggling blonde in the back. She continued to giggle until her friend nudged her with her elbow.

She stopped laughing and looked up at the professor. “I’m so terribly sorry… what were you saying?” her voice all but squeaked. 

 

The teacher sighed and gave her a disapproving look. “I was reassuring Gabriel that he need not apologize about coming in late, as long as he doesn’t manage to come in as late as you do.” 

“She really didn’t have to do that” his mind all but screamed at him. All eyes in the room flickered back and forth between the two.

Elise glanced at him and quickly looked away blushing. He glanced back at her confused. That was new. 

“I’ll try to come to class on time more often…” she said as looked down and twirled her ponytail with her finger. The professor sighed and shook her head, “That’s what you always say. Alright, now back to today’s lesson…” The class resumed as before.

...

The day went by in a flash. 

Throughout his classes, Gabriel found it extremely difficult to concentrate. His fingers fumbled on his work, and although his mind usually seemed to be anywhere but in class, it never interfered with his work. 

“Gabriel doesn’t seem to be his usual perfect self today” he heard someone whisper as he walked through the hallways. "Yeah" the person responded, "It seems that Mr.Perfect isn't as perfect as we thought" they both laughed at this remark. Gabriel shook his head to himself and walked on. He had long grown use to the comments to be bothered by them, and he wasn't going to let them bother him today.

Before he knew it, he was back at the small dorm he luckily had to himself. 

He opened the door and shrugged off his bag as he put it aside. 

Fixing a cup of instant coffee, he sat down and relaxed. Closing his eyes, he recounted the unusual events of the day. 

Never had he experienced such a drastic amount of events in a single day. 

He put his coffee down as he reached for his bag to pull out his sketchbook. He needed a distraction to take his mind off of things. Yet when he reached his hand in the bag, his fingers met a strange object that he couldn’t recall ever being there. 

He clenched his hand around the unfamiliar object and hastily pulled it out. 

The black box was octagon shaped with strange symbols engraved all over it. He turned it over examining it.

“How did this get in here?” he thought to himself. 

He opened the box. 

A bright flash of blue burst out from it.

...

Gabriel jumped back, nearly knocking himself off the couch. He sat on the top of the sofa, nearly tottering over the edge as he helplessly watched the glimmer of light manifest into a tiny form. 

A small blue creature floated in midair and flexed its tiny appendages. Its beak-like mouth let out a yawn. 

The creature’s green eyes blinked as it gazed up at Gabriel. It gave him a reluctant look as it slowly floated towards him and landed on his knee. Gabriel flinched but merely stared at it, almost too stunned to move. 

“Are you going to just sit there and gawk, or are you going to say something?” The creature said with a “Hmp!” as it turned its face away from him and folded its wings down like a fan.

Gabriel looked at the tiny blue creature dumbfounded and tried to think of what to say. After collecting his composure, he finally spoke up, “I’m sorry... I was just taken back with shock… today’s been a pretty strange day” he said to the creature with a small smile.

The peacock-like creature glanced back at him. Its narrowed eyes began to soften. “I’m Avery. I’m your kwami” he said as he floated closer to him. Gabriel held out the palm of his hand and the kwami sat down. 

“I’m Gabriel” he nervously said back. “Would you like to know about your powers now? I’m sure you have many questions” he said glancing at his appendages with a look of boredom on his face.

“Powers?!" Gabriel exclaimed, startled by his own tone, he tried to act composed and cool, he cleared his throat, "I have many questions if you don't mind answering them” Gabriel said with a serious look on his face, “Not to sound rude or anything, but what exactly is a kwami and why are you here?” The kwami unfolded its wings, “For whatever reasons, you were chosen to be a miraculous holder. Your new job is to save and protect the people of this place! As your kwami, I will help assist you in doing so by lending my powers to you. Does that answer your questions?” Avery said with a bored look.

“Yes, but why? Why me? There’s plenty of people out there who’re perfect for the position… yet I was chosen?” Avery shrugged, “It beats me, you were chosen for a reason and that’s that. Do you want to know about your powers now?” Gabriel's face lit up, "Yes!"

The kwami zipped to and from excitedly now. “You have the ability to stun others and can charm people into giving you information that they wouldn’t have given otherwise. You can also even see past people’s exterior appearances to get a better idea as to who they really are! There are other perks as well of course, but you’ll figure it out as you go along” Avery said with a sly wink.

“So…I’m a hero?” he whispered. 

“Exactly” the kwami said as turned his head and examined his feathers. 

“Does that mean that I’ll be working alongside Mademoiselle Papillon?” Avery widened his eyes, “You’re more or so entitled to work on your own, but if you wish to form an alliance and work together, perhaps you could…” 

Gabriel sank back down on the couch and smiled. “Ah… I see why… that goofy grin on your face explains it all” the kwami teased. Gabriel gave him a smile and crossed his arms. 

Reaching for the box, Gabriel picked up the peacock pin nestled inside. "How does this thing work?” 

Avery floated over towards it, “It all begins with this pin” the Kwami said as he patted it. “Put it on and ask me to transform you, and so you shall” he said with a slight smirk. 

Gabriel clasped the pin onto his shirt, took a deep breath and exhaled. “Avery… transform me!” The kwami flew into the pin and disappeared. 

A bright flash of blue then engulfed Gabriel...


	2. Monsieur Paon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel becomes Monsieur Paon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are yet again! I'm really enjoying this story so far and hope that everyone else is too! ;) I've got the whole thing planned out from here on out, and absolutely cannot wait to keep updating this story ^o^

Gabriel’s mind raced as he felt the magic cloak over him.

It almost felt like before when Mademoiselle Papillon akumatized him, yet more different than that… 

He couldn’t exactly put his finger on the difference, but he could definitely feel it in his core. 

Perhaps it had something to do with the ancient magic directly impacting him? Equipping him with the skills and powers from heroes of the past, and working its magic to directly suit him up? He would think about that later… as of now, he had other matters to worry about, such as where did his kwami disappear to when he needed him the most!?

“Avery?” he called out, as he glanced around. 

But the kwami was nowhere in sight. 

He looked down at the miraculous pinned to his suit. It gave off a different sheen than before. The blue orbs glittered brighter than before, as if acknowledging him that Avery was now in there. 

“He must really be in there then” he said reaching for the pin and positioning it upwards.

“After all, that’s who I directly get my powers from…” 

Carefully handling the pin still attached to his suit, he let go of it and adjusted it back in place. He then turned his attention to his now gloved hands, and tried to turn around to catch a glimpse of his newfound self. Eventually, he gave up and made his way to the bathroom. He took in his reflection in the mirror, “Oh god…” he gasped. “I look like a pompous dork!” he exclaimed as his eyes scanned over his attire.

He was clad in dark blue. His overall outfit was styled in a way that looked like a modernized version of a suit from the 1800’s. Two buttons adorned the back of his coat to clasp the large peacock feathered fan attached to his back. A white puffy tie bellowed out from above his collar, his sleeves trailed past his fingertips. His legs were suited up in matching blue tights with tall black boots that stopped at his knee, and a dark blue velvet pouch strapped to his side. 

Lastly, he decided to look at his face.

He clearly recognized his blue eyes peering out from behind the mask that was more meant for a masquerade rather than a hero. His glasses were now gone but he could still see. “Strange” he thought to himself as he peered around the room without the usual clouded vision that overtook his sight without his glasses on. 

Besides his eyes, everything else about him seemed almost unrecognizable, especially since a large hat on the side of his head with feathers trailing out of it covered most of his hair.

“I guess the most important part is that this outfit covers up who I truly am to save me from the embarrassment of stepping out in this thing in public” he thought as he glanced over it once more. But if Gabriel was truly being honest with himself, he secretly liked the flamboyance the outfit gave off. He turned around once more and looked over himself, “Just the sight of seeing me would probably make her laugh” he said with a frown. He crossed his arms as he glanced at the man in the mirror. “Alright Avery, I’m done now!” he called out. 

“Avery?” He paused and waited.

Gabriel glanced around frantically waiting for the kwami to show up. 

“Maybe I should take off the pin…” he said as he reached down to try and unclasp it. 

A blood curdling scream filled the air.

His fingers froze, his eyes widened agape, he ran to his window and carefully looked out. No one else seemed to look out their dorm windows after the piercing sound filled the air. “Strange... Am I just hearing things!?” 

As if to answer his question, another scream shrieked through the air.

“What to do?! What to do?!” His mind all but yelled as he paced back and forth trying to think of a solution. He didn’t even know where the scream came from, but he knew he should go out and investigate. That’s what a hero would do right? “I guess there’s only one thing to do then” he said as he pulled his blinds up and opened the window.

Gabriel glanced left and right to ensure that no one was around before he made his way out onto the roof. He hastily pulled the window down, but made sure it was still slightly left open a crack. 

From the top of the roof, he glanced around to see if there was any visible sign of danger. The scream reiterated as before, “It’s coming from over there" Gabriel said to himself as he turned his head towards the direction of the sound. "The fastest way to get there would be by leaping rooftops... Mademoiselle Papillon does it all the time, and she’s a miraculous holder” he tried to reassure himself as he thought of the possible danger that could result from leaping across the rooftops. “There’s no time to waste, here goes nothing…” he said as he backed up and pushed his self to run forward and jump to the next rooftop over. 

His body rose in the air as it met the empty space, feathers soaring behind him. He landed, crouched down, with his hand on the pavement steadying himself. 

He rose up from his stance and glanced behind him. A smile crept along his face as he studied the length of distance he crossed. “No way” he whispered in awe. 

He shook his head trying to get over the feelings of euphoria, refocusing back on the important matter at hand. “No time to waste! I have a citizen to save!” 

He continued to run and leap across the buildings, following the source of the screams in the distance. 

He finally reached the end of the building and crept down low. The scene in from of him continued to play out; the group, completely obvious that someone was watching nearby. 

“Hand over the money!” The large burly blond yelled. The other two guys stood and watched on. 

They appeared as if they were older teens. They crowded around the boy as he held the girl in a choke hold grip, as if they were trying to block out a way for her to possibly escape. She struggled as she kicked out her arms and legs, “Please!” she repeated over and over again. He finally released her. She fell to the ground and let out a sob. “Get the bats!” he said with a smirk as he stood over her. 

Gabriel stood up. Taking in a deep breath, he jumped down from the building. All eyes glanced up at him in shock.

The blond boy scoffed and let out a manic laugh “What kind of threat are you?” he indirectly asked. The ganglier boy stepped back trembling, but the other boy pulled him back. 

The leader jerked the girl up by her arm. “You two!” he pointed to them, “Handle the large bird man while I go-“

“Not so fast” a voice interjected. Mademoiselle Papillon came waltzing in, a white butterfly hovered in her palm. 

She narrowed her eyes taking him in. “Well then, I guess we have some things to discuss later” she said with a wink.

His eyes widened in shock, “Does she know it’s me?!” his mind all but raced.

She cupped her hands around the butterfly transferring sparks of gold into it, “You take down the two boys, and I’ll deal with this one…” she said as she carefully drew closer to the burly man clutching the girl.

He jolted back, and ran off, dragging the girl with him as he made his way down an alley way. 

Mademoiselle Papillon whispered frantically to herself as she released the butterfly that soared in the direction that they had fled off to.

“While I wait momentarily…” she said turning around knocking one of the boys onto his back.

The other boy gave her a frightened look, “You can’t just do that!” he yelled as he tried lunge at her.

Gabriel stopped him before he could strike, he put his arm in front of the boy pushing him back, “Shouldn’t you be going after-“ 

“I will! Trust me, I have my reasons for-“she paused as the butterfly symbol lit up around her face.

“Can you handle this Monsieur Paon?” She said looking at him, her eyes giving him a blank expression as she looked off else. He nodded nervously. 

“Good!” she said as she began to run off. 

Her voice echoed off the walls, “Hello, I am Mademoiselle Papillon. I’m offering to give you a chance at comeuppance-” Her voice trailed off completely. 

“Comeuppance?” he thought confusedly, “Why would she say it like that?” 

He ignored the questions racing through his mind and tried to return to the present. 

The ganglier boy stood in front of the collapsed friend that he had managed to move against the back of a wall. 

Bat in one hand, and his other clenched by his side, he trembled as he raised it, yet didn’t appear daring enough to strike. 

Gabriel crept towards him. The boy stumbled back, pressing himself up against the wall, as he tried to stand by his friend. 

“Please! Don’t hurt me!” he said as he shook. His friend groaned out in pain as he tried to look up at him. 

“Why should I?” he said through clenched teeth, “When you guys were clearly ready to hurt that girl!” Gabriel said as he clenched his fist.

The boy sunk down mumbling incoherently as he covered his eyes. The other boy tried to look brave despite how helpless he truly looked. 

“Why? Why did you do it?!” he said as he stepped closer to him. 

They turned their faces away from him.

“I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way…” He said as he pulled off the small blue pouch attached to his hip and reached behind him to unlatch the winged fan. He truly had no idea about what he was doing and why. His body acted out the actions as if it were an instinct, despite the fact that he didn’t know what he was doing at all. 

He carefully dumped out some of the contents inside the pouch. A cloud of fog sparkled blue at it floated in the air. He waved his fan towards it in the direction of the boys. It drifted over to them as they looked on in horror as it approached. They coughed as they tried to wave it away but it remained around them in a haze until it eventually dissipated. 

“We did it because Xander made us do it!” one of them yelled out covering his mouth in shock at what he had just said.

“So it makes them admit the truth” he thought as he marveled at the power of that ability.

“You don’t have to do something you don’t want to do because another person makes you.” Gabriel told them.

The boy stared at him in horror as he tried to clamp his mouth shut. He struggled trying to keep his mouth shut, and sighed as he gave a look of defeat and let the words continue to roll off his tongue. “It’s not that simple, if you were to know what kind of guy he really is!” he blurted out.

Gabriel scoffed, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “I can imagine. Now what made you two end up in the predicament that you’re facing at the moment? Let me guess… Xander?”

The boy sighed as if ashamed to be admitting what he was saying, “He wanted us to pull a prank on her. scare her a little. I didn’t think he was actually going to try and…” He pulled himself in towards his knees and sobbed. 

The clicking of heels echoed through the halls, breaking the sound of the boy’s sobs. 

The girl- now akumatized, walked out with a bright grin on her face as she dragged the reluctant bully- Xander, behind her. 

He gave a look of shame at his broken crew, his bruised bottom lip quivered in defeat. 

Mademoiselle gave Gabriel a sly look as she walked over to him. “I’ll be right back” she said as she patted his shoulder and walked past him.“I need to phone the police. Be back in just a sec” she said as she turned around and gave him a wink.

He turned his face away and blushed. Crossing his arms, he kept watched over the strange group.

...

The police came and did their duties, and the girl’s akumatization released. 

She walked with a new confident bounce to her steps, as she made her way over to the separate police party for questioning. “Thank you” she said as she walked by the two heroes’. 

“No problem sweetie!” Mademoiselle Papillon said with a bright smile and a wave.

She turned towards him, “Finally, we’re alone Monsieur Paon… Do you mind if I call you that?” she said glancing at him. 

“N-no, not at all. In fact, I didn’t have a name picked out yet” he said with a slight smirk. 

“Wow. So you’re brand new at this then?” she said as she glimpsed at his attire.

“Well good job on your first day partner!”She said holding her hand up for a high five.

He confusedly glanced up at her hand before he returned the gesture. 

A loud beeping sound alerted from his pin. “What was that?” he said glancing down at it. 

“Well that’s pretty” She reached her fingers out towards it and carefully held up the pin attached to his suit.

“That’s your miraculous” she said carefully turning it side to side, as it cast off small prisms of light. “And it’s currently beeping to alert you that your transformation is about to run out. It might be best if you go now so that you don’t accidentally reveal your identify” she said with a giggle. 

“Oh” he responded trying not to feel dejected.

”No hard feelings Monsieur oiseau, but I’d much rather that we keep our identities a secret for the time being, alright?” 

“That’s understandable” He nodded his head as the feathers on his hat shook. 

She laughed and reached out to poke one of the slightly drooping feathers.

He quickly glanced away from her, slightly blushing at how closely she stood next to him. “After all, I barely know you and you barely know me. It might be better that way” he said casting a glance at her.

“Exactly” she murmured in agreement, still playing with the feathers on his hat. 

Another beep sounded off. “I hate to leave so soon, but it seems I must bid you adieu, my lady” he said with a bow.

He turned around and ran from her.

“Silly bird!” she giggled. 

He ran as fast as he could into an alleyway away from anyone in sight. His miraculous beeped more frantically until his transformation wore off. Avery came flying out of the pin and landed on his shoulder.

“Must… need… food” he huffed out. 

Gabriel laughed, “Good thing we’re going home then” he said to the kwami reassuringly as he walked down the lonely alleyway far away from his dorm.

...

Weeks had passed, and up until the day he became Monsieur Paon, Gabriel’s schedule had changed dramatically. Especially that of his sleep schedule. Only four hours of sleep after last night’s late fight, and Gabriel was wide awake and needing to get ready for class.

He groaned as he thought about his exhaustion, and refused to get out of bed despite his alarm clock blaring off alerting him that he needed to return back to reality. 

“Wake up!” Avery said as he flew over and poked him. “I can’t stand hearing that thing go off anymore!” 

He turned over on his side, “I don’t know if I can…” 

The kwami scoffed, “You haven’t even seen nor felt the worst of it yet!” he said with a dark chuckle.

“You’re going to have to get up eventually“Avery said narrowing his eyes. “Plus, I’m hungry” He said as he pointed to his stomach. “Being trapped in there for so long does things to one's appetite.” The Kwami grumbled.

Gabriel shifted and forced himself to get up. He fed Avery and did his usual morning routine, finally hustling his way out the door to go to class. 

A gun shot fired off in the distance.

“Ugh, not again” he muttered to himself as he came to a halt and ran to find a hiding space. 

Avery flew out from his jacket pocket and gave him a smug grin, “Maybe if you’d hurry up your battles and spent less time gawking at Mademoiselle Papillon, you would actually be able to make it to class on time!”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, “I do not spend most of the time gawking at Mademoiselle Papillon…”

The Kwami folded his arms, “Really now?” He said sarcastically.

Gabriel ignored this, “Avery, Transform me!”

...

The battle finally ended and Gabriel retreated to de-transform. 

He glanced at his wrist watch, no longer shocked by his loss of punctuality.

“I’m about five minutes late now!” he huffed as he glanced at the time. 

He ran, making his way to the university, continuing to run as he made his way inside and into the classroom. 

“And yet again Gabriel?!” his professor all but shouted.“This has been such a weekly disturbance now! I’ve even lost count of how many times you’ve shown up late by this point!” she glowered. 

“I know…” he said knowing that sorry didn’t cut it anymore. 

He glanced down to avoid the spotlight that he knew was defiantly on him. 

She shook her head, “Since you so happened to come in late, all the partners have already been assigned. That is… all except for one.”

He peered up at her through his eyelashes, “Oh?” 

A blonde ran through the door, her ponytail bouncing behind her. 

“Elise?” the professor called as the girl began to make her way to her seat. 

She turned around “Y-yes?” 

“For the project, I’m pairing you up with Gabriel” She said gesturing over to him “Maybe you two can discuss why you’re always so late to class, and come up with a solution to help you get here on time while you’re at it!”

The class erupted with laughter. 

Gabriel glanced up at her. She caught his gaze, blushed, and quickly returned to her seat.

“Elise?” his mind questioned “However am I going to get any work done with her? She’s always goofing off with her friends and doesn’t seem to take anything seriously. How unlucky for me…” 

The teacher continued to drone on about the assignment. 

The main idea was to come up with a theme and create a suit or dress to reflect upon it. The partners would decide together, and would work from there to design and model it. After she finished explaining the instructions, she dismissed the partners to take some time to get together and discuss some of their ideas. Everyone ran around the room madly as they squealed and shouted their ideas out. He didn’t move, he just leaned his hand against his face and sat in thought.

“Gabriel?” a small voice said from behind him. He felt her walk over and sit down next to him. 

“Hi” she said shyly. 

He slightly turned his head towards her and met her glance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only thing I'm going to say about the next chapter is this... Fluff.

**Author's Note:**

> More chapters to come in the near distant future!
> 
> In the mean time... leave your lovely reviews in the comment section below ;)


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